Via video from New Orleans, where he's filming 22 Jump Street, Tatum announced that college students over the age of 18 can make 60-second videos about how they're going to contribute to the future of film. The contest starts today and ends in January, when Tatum will make another appearance on DeGeneres' daytime talker to announce the winners.

The 2014 Oscar host noted that the winners will not only get to hand out trophies onstage but they'll also be there all week watching rehearsal.

"When they mentioned it to me, I thought it was such a great idea to get more young people involved," she said.

Tatum was similarly excited: "I'm really interested to see what they come up with because there are some really creative kids in college right now."

But he noted that it's hard to tell a story in 60 seconds, so those who submit films will "have to have a very, very clear point of view and get as creative as they possibly can."

Tatum also explained why Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who also produced last year's show, wanted to launch this contest.

"They wanted to make sure that anyone who walked out on that Oscar stage had a real passion for film, and so that led them to kind of do away with the traditional presenters and find new presenters that had a connection to the future of film," Tatum said.

The Academy held a similar contest last year called "The Oscar Experience College Search." The six winners of that contest were flown to Los Angeles and presented Oscar statuettes to show presenters during the 2013 telecast.